When we think of what the concept of community means, we gravitate towards quality of life. Woodinville is unique in its character and charm partly due its geographic location and unique seat atop the northeast crest of Lake Washington, yet its gracious, considerate, and selfless community is thanks to the people that call this city home.

For years, The Molbak’s Christmas Tree has brought the residents of Woodinville holiday cheer. Strung up with a brilliant display of white lights, this tree acted as a mecca of celebration. This tree fostered an environment that promoted positivity and glee for the residents. It was a place people could gather and pleasantly see out the end of the year while welcoming the beginning of the brisk months that are so well known to the people of the Pacific Northwest. Only a few weeks ago, the Molbak’s had a tree fall in their parking lot. This tree struck The Molbak’s Christmas Tree, necessitating the Christmas Tree to be cut down because of damage.

Photo courtesy of Carol HookWith time ticking, the community sprang into action.

It all began with Dave Witt & Kimberly Ellertson from the Chamber with help from Julia Kouhia from Molbak’s & Windermere’s Keith Wells. The Chamber offered to purchase a glorious 20’ Grand Fir from Big Trees in Snohomish. The tree was delivered to DeYoung Park where it will temporarily live in a giant planter box. The tree was formally welcomed into the community when it played star in Winterfest Tree Lighting Ceremony on Friday, December 1st. “The collaboration and commitment that went into figuring this all out so quickly was incredible,” shared Woodinville City Council member, Elaine Cook.

To lie out the stream of events and community members that made this feat possible is to gather an understanding of how diverse Woodinville truly is concerning the trades, skills, and individuality the Woodinville people possess.

The need for a 7’ square planter box was immediate and something of this specificity cannot be simply purchased when immediacy is paramount. Keith Wells and his neighbor, Ian Hagen who owns Flatwater Homes, built the box hours after being asked. Elaine Cook took the responsibility of staining the box, using her weekend to finish the project. Of course, transporting the stained box posed a problem due to its size and delicate nature. Wells’ brother, Dan, owns Mac Towing, and was happy to volunteer his professional skills and equipment. Additionally, Dan’s friend whom owns Applied Organics, Steve Scott, filled the box with donated soil from Cedar Grove Composting. Of course, the box needed to be installed properly. One of Wells’ brokers, Tom Berg, previously owned a landscaping business and offered his assistance.

The entirety of the project came to fruition in just a single week.

The project was completed entirely for the community and not one of the participants personally had any financial gain from the project.

The Winterfest Tree Lighting event was presented to the Woodinville community on December 1st when Mayor, Bernie Talmas, was accompanied by Santa to spark off what is hoped to be many more years of this wonderful tree and its symbolic representation of Woodinville community.

We at The Woodinville Weekly would like to express our utmost thanks to Dave Witt and Elaine Cook for their generous contributions; both in the community and in the well-written word. Without their work and words, we would not be capable of publishing what we have.

Witt has also supplied the list of generous donors:Downtown Woodinville Shopping CenterMolbak’s garden+homeWindermere Real EstateRotary Club of WoodinvilleThe Woodinville Chamber